This invention relates to an apparatus and method of securely providing confidentiality and privacy for the contents of a document that is reproduced by an electrographic machine, such as a copier/duplicator machine, or delivered via electrical transmission by a device such as a facsimile, or teleprinter machine.
Facsimile machines in particular, operate by receiving facsimile information which is reproduced onto paper that is then transported into a storage tray for retrieval. A conventional type facsimile machine does not distinguish between confidential and non-confidential transmission and cannot securely transmit a confidential document. In particular, the output paper is not protected from view, and therefore the contents may be exposed to any third party before it reaches the intended recipient, potentially destroying the confidentiality of the contents. The problem is more acute when documents that require confidentiality from third parties are transmitted during off business hours, such as documents sent from overseas locations, or when documents are transmitted to unattended machines at any time. If the intended recipient is not present there can be no guarantee that the contents of a confidential document will not be disclosed to a third party.
Devices for preventing the exposure of a written message on a sheet of paper are generally known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,152,800, issued to Hanson and entitled HANDLING A COMBINATION LETTER-ENVELOPE, discloses an invention for providing a combination letter-envelope which is adapted for sealing, to prevent exposure of a message written thereon.
Similarly, METHOD FOR FOLDING AND SEALING SHEETS, U.S. Pat. No. 4,701,233, issued in the name of Beck et. al., discloses a method for making a plurality of folds, and sealing along the edges thereof, thereby concealing portions of the front side of a sheet and enhancing the security of its written contents.
Moreover, Japanese Patent No. 63-46876, issued on Aug. 14, 1986, describes a facsimile machine that attaches, from an additional internal roll of paper, a cover sheet over the face of a sheet whose contents are desired to be kept confidential.
Also related to the field of enclosing copy, a device for binding together copies for a set of documents produced on a copier/duplicator was disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,134,672, entitled COPIER FINISHER FOR AN ELECTROGRAPHIC REPRODUCING DEVICE, and issued to Burlew, et. al. This device produces stapled booklets from a set of document sheets. The sheets are fed to a copier finisher which inverts the sheets and delivers them to a finishing tray. A set of sheets received by the tray are jogged to align adjacent sheets, and then one or more staples are applied to form a stapled booklet. The finished booklet is removed from the assembly tray and transported to a tote tray for removal by an operator.
Although providing a way for obscuring the contents of copy, the devices discussed above present a number of significant drawbacks. The devices either (1) secure sheets together in only one area of one side of the document and thus do not ensure adequate privacy; or (2) require the folding, sealing and additional paper handling of the individual sheets themselves to achieve any form of confidentiality of the document's text. Furthermore, none of the previously discussed devices has the ability to distinguish between confidential and non-confidential documents, so that only confidential documents are maintained private.
There is, thus, a need for a system which can distinguish between confidential and non-confidential documents and which can insure the privacy of such confidential documents whether in the form of a single sheet or a plurality of sheets.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a novel apparatus and method for enhancing the security and/or confidentiality of a document that is reproduced from an electrographic transmission/reproduction machine.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method for detecting and separating the non-confidential and confidential paper output of an electrographic transmission/reproduction machine, in such a way that the confidential documents will remain confidential.
A more specific object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and method for separating confidential and non-confidential documents delivered from a conventional facsimile machine, and for binding the confidential document sheets to provide privacy for the information contained therein.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and method for separating confidential and non-confidential documents delivered from a conventional electrographic transmission/reproduction machine, and for binding the non-confidential documents to provide a more convenient handling of such documents.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for assembling into a booklet, copies constituting a set of documents produced by an electronic reproduction device
It is a further object of the present invention to accomplish the above stated objects by utilizing an apparatus which is simple in design and use, and economical to manufacture.
The foregoing objects and advantages of the invention are illustrative of those which can be achieved by the present invention and are not intended to be exhaustive or limiting of the possible advantages which can be realized. Thus, these and other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description herein or can be learned from practicing the invention, both as embodied herein or as modified in view of any variations which may be apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the present invention resides in the novel parts, constructions, arrangements, combinations and improvements herein shown and described.